Tempo
by zentner
Summary: Everyone's favourite drummer needs some practice. Mio decides to take matters into her own hands, but she needs serious help.
1. Being Late Has Repercussions

Disclaimer: I don't own K-on! If I did... Well, let's just say things would be _very_ different. ^_^

* * *

A very frantic Ritsu sprinted full speed towards the music room.

She was an hour late, and being late meant less cake, more practice, and having to deal with a certain bassist with anger management problems. A couple of recent bruises made the drummer run even faster. Frequent exposure to blunt force trauma certainly wasn't good for the brain.

"So that's why all those stupid tests seem to get harder all the time!" rationalized Ritsu.

She barely studies, but that's beside the point. Now she can validly blame Mio for her idiocy.

The drummer was yanked out of her thoughts as she neared the room. The corridors were strangely devoid of music. Instead, the sound of lighthearted banter and the sweet scent of fresh tea wafted in the air. They were probably taking a break. Or plotting her demise. Except for Yui and Mugi, of course. Airheads were incapable of such thoughts, and their pianist was as evil as a plush toy.

Hopefully Mio was in a good mood today.

"Here goes…"

The doors opened with a nervous creak as Ritsu vainly tried to sneak in.

Failing that, she put on her best kicked puppy face and recited a litany of excuses that made no sense whatsoever.

Mio gave an irritated glare at the intruder. Everyone else just stared blankly, as if they knew exactly what was about to happen. Yui was busy smothering Azusa, while Mugi seemed to be preparing bandages.

"Why are you late AGAIN?" Someone did not wake up on the right side of the bed today.

"Err... I forgot the time?" Ritsu had a penchant for lame excuses.

"What the hell were you doing that made you forget practice?" Mio's hand was turning into a fist. Her eyes flashed dangerously. Any normal person would have shut up by now, but Ritsu, being Ritsu, did not shut up. Instead, a teasing grin crept up on her face.

"I was playing a game."

"It must have been one hell of a game," replied Mio cautiously. She knew where this was going and she didn't like it.

"It sure was! There were exploding heads everywhere!"

Mio screamed.

Ritsu leaned in for the kill.

"And the zombies were covered in barnacles."

It took less than a second for Mio's fist to make contact with Ritsu's defenseless scalp.

"Ow! Y-you didn't have to hit so hard..." The drummer's prominent forehead now sported an equally noticeable bump.

"Stop it! I've had enough!"

"You've had enough? What about me? I could even have permanent brain damage now because of you!"

"It wouldn't make a difference anyway! You're already an idiot!"

And so it went. Another normal day at the light music club. Things eventually settled down after a lot of yelling and a bit of cake. It was all good. Unfortunately, they weren't able to practice.

As everyone went home, Mio wondered if there was a way to get their band to rehearse more. If they ever wanted to make it to Budokan, then something must be done. Something drastic.


	2. Breakfast

_Beep. Beeeep. Beeeeeeeep._

"Ugh." Under a mass of tangled bed sheets, a hand reached out to silence the offending noise.

The alarm clock lived to _beep_ another day, as the hand stopped punishing the snooze button.

"Today is going to be a _long_ day," sighed Mio, as she stared at the ceiling.

A pile of printed flyers were stacked neatly on her table, and bits of lace were visible from her bag.

"Mio, the water's getting cold," called her mom.

_"It's not too late... I could still pretend I was sick... Or something..."_

"Mio!"

"Just a minute! I'll be right there." The jet-haired girl took a moment to stretch, and walked slowly towards the bathroom. Her mother shot her an odd look.

"Are you alright? You look sick." Mio was tempted to say yes. But she couldn't.

"'m f'ne," mumbled the sleepy bassist. The bathroom door closed as Mio proceeded to take a bath as slowly as possible.

"Teenagers," sighed Mrs. Akiyama, before walking off to the kitchen to prepare breakfast for the family.

* * *

Breakfast was a quiet affair in the Akiyama household, but today, it was even quieter than usual. Except for the sound of Mio constantly dropping her chopsticks. Both her parents stared at her. Their usually calm daughter was turning into a nervous wreck today.

"You know, Mio," began her father. He was about to give her a lecture on safe sex. It was clear that he didn't want to. Mrs. Akiyama brushed him aside and got straight to the point.

"It's alright to have a boyfriend. Just, please, take this with you." She handed her daughter a small plastic package.

"W-what? B-boyfriend? But I don't have one!" The poor girl looked at at the packet.

_"I hope it's not what I think it is..."_ But it was.

She nearly fainted at the sight of it. However, she managed to finish breakfast without keeling over. She then grabbed her bag like a lifeline and ran out the door.

"W-wait! You forgot something!" Her mother was standing there with open arms. Mio reluctantly hugged her. She didn't notice that her mom discreetly stuffed the dreaded packet in her bag.

The Akiyamas watched their daughter run out the door.

"They grow up so fast."

Mr. Akiyama nodded and quietly ate his pancakes. Somehow he felt sorry for his daughter.

* * *

A/N: I honestly don't know what the hell this chapter is about. Or why I even wrote - typed- it. Stupid condom commercials.


	3. CPR Isn't Only For Heart Failure

Mio was still in shock as she walked to school. A vivid shade of red darkened her face. She really needed a moment to calm down.

Unfortunately, this sort of thing happened almost every week. It all started when her parents watched a documentary about teen pregnancies. The documentary probably suggested that they shower their children with various forms of contraceptives. The weekly ritual was an embarrasing one, and bassist never enjoyed it. Her parents even got it on DVD, just to show her the horrors of giving birth. She silently cursed _National Geographic_.

Suddenly her phone rang. It was a text message from an anonymous number. She pressed the read option.

"Behind you! :P"

She ignored the message and walked briskly away. This was no time for another one of Ritsu's stupid tricks. School started in ten minutes.

"Ten minutes! Cra-" Mio wasn't even able to finish berating herself before being tackled from behind.

"You're no fun." Ritsu's headband fell off her hair due to the force of impact. Long bangs hid her amber eyes, but her stubborn grin was still visible.

"Ritsu! Get off me!" The bassist told her friend to get off, but it almost seemed like she was pulling her closer. Although neither noticed it.

"Keep it down, Mio! What would the neighbors think?" The shorter girl winked playfully at the girl below her. She was immediately silenced by Mio's fist. Ritsu's mindless teasing made the poor bassist blush brightly. It only served as another painful reminder of the traumatic breakfast she just had. They stood frozen in an awkward position as Ritsu refused to let go of her victim. Unfortunately, they didn't notice that they had an audience.

"Ne, Mugi-sempai, shouldn't we help Mio-sempai out?" whispered a familiar voice.

Mugi was rooted to the spot, staring intently at the scene before her. Azusa sighed, and decided to intervene. She picked up the dropped headband and sharply poked the drummer with it. It broke them out of their trance, Mugi included.

"Hey! Watch it! You almost broke my headband!" Ritsu cradled the headband in her arms, as if it were a sick puppy. Apparently, she had already forgotten about what just took place. Mio, however, was still visibly disoriented. Her uniform was a mess, and she was as red as a tomato. She looked like she was about to pass out.

"Whoops. Looks like I overdid it again. Miooo! You still there?" The drummer waved her hand in front of her friend's face. No response.

"Hmm... Maybe she needs CPR..."

Random fact: Ritsu failed health class.

She slowly leaned in. Mugi almost cheered her on. Azusa frowned. This was taking way too much time. She would have pushed Ritsu if it would have made things faster.

"Any closer and I'll break that headband of yours."

"And she's back," deadpanned the drummer.

The distant ringing of a bell reminded them that they were late. Mio glared at Ritsu. Something in her eyes made the amber-eyed girl shudder, though it wasn't necessarily fear.

"By the way, where's Yui?" gasped Mugi, as they ran as fast as they could. As if in reply, all their phones rang. Azusa flipped hers open.

"You're late, Azunyan! ^_^"

"Y-Yui's early?" The drummer shook her head in disbelief.

"It's all your fault, just so you know." Mio helpfully pointed out.

Ritsu gave a sheepish grin. It was her fault after all.

A/N: Thanks for the reviews! I've tried to make this chapter _slightly_ longer.

Btw, the CPR thing is a reference to a story by majestic mucus. Really nice fic. (Why won't she update... T_T)


	4. New Member?

Mio printed a bunch of flyers and posted some of them in their classroom. However, their teacher wasn't too happy with the prospect of having her classroom decorated with flyers, so she orders them to be thrown out. Mio sighs as she takes off the flyers. She suddenly spots someone looking at one of them. The person notices, and calmly walks towards Mio. Her eyes flicker in recognition.

"Aren't you the one from the concert?"

"C-concert?"

"The one who tripped?"

Mio ran away.

"H-hey! Wait! I want to join!"

"Join?"

**************After Classes***************

Again, Ritsu was late.

However, as she entered the club room, she noticed two things.

First, nobody tried to kill her, which was good.

Second, there was a new person in the room.

She immediately recognized her as the girl who sat next to Yui, Tachibana Himeko. She knew Himeko, but they were more of acquaintances than friends. Yui was enthusiastically showing off her guitar to the newcomer, and Mio was too preoccupied with setting up her bass to notice anyone coming in. Ritsu smiled. Anything that spared her from getting a concussion was a welcome distraction.

Mugi was busy preparing tea for all of them, while Azusa dragged another chair to the table. Seeing that there was no cake to be eaten yet, Ritsu casually walked over to Himeko and said hello. 'Said hello' here being tackled to the ground in a violent manner then getting suffocated with well intentioned hugs disguised as chokeholds.

"The name's Tainaka Ritsu! I'm the club president! Welcome to the Light music club!" Said president gives a friendly grin to the newcomer.

"N-nice to meet y-you." It isn't very easy to breathe while your windpipe is being crushed. Himeko's skin was starting to take on a rather pale hue. Fortunately, cake was about to be served, and so Ritsu released her vicelike grip and happily ran to the table. Mio hurriedly apologized for their president's behavior.

"I'm so sorry!"

"It's alright, I'm fine. Your president's rather...friendly, isn't she?" said Himeko, with a forced smile. Apparently she did not enjoy being strangled.

"Next time she does that, I'll..." The raven-haired girl cast a dark glare at Ritsu.

"Oi! Mio! Can I have your share?" Apparently, the glare had no effect.

"What? Of course not, stupid!" Mio ran to save her share, but it was too late. All that was left of the cake was smeared all over her friend's face. The hungry bassist almost cried. When Ritsu saw those teary eyes, she almost felt guilty. Almost.

However, that tiny twinge of guilt wasn't enough to stop her from gloating. It only earned her another hit on the head.

"Ehh? Ricchan gets an extra slice from Mio? Azu-nyan, give me yours too!" Yui whined.

"Absolutely not!" screeched Azusa as she yanked away her slice. Fortunately for Yui, Azusa was not the violent type, and so she merely tolerated her instead of hitting her. After a while though, she eventually gave away a part of her cake. Something about Yui's pleading eyes were hard to ignore. Yui smothered Azusa in a giant bear hug to express her thanks. It was reluctantly accepted, although Mugi noted that Azusa seemed a little flushed after the hug.

The pianist chuckled lightly while sipping her tea contentedly.

Himeko suddenly cleared her throat. Everyone suddenly stopped whatever they were doing and stared. Mio quickly stood up and introduced her to everyone.

"Oh! Everyone, this is Tachibana Himeko. She's also from Yui's class, so I'm sure some of you know her."

"Nice to meet you." smiled Himeko with a cool smile. She made eye contact with each member, as if sizing them up.

Yui smiled and offered her some leftover cake. They all waited to see if she would take it. The cake was mauled, to say the least. To everyone's surprise, she willingly took it, and wolfed it down in less than a minute.

"Whoah! Nice!" Ritsu was impressed. She offered a high-five to Himeko. Himeko just stared at her hand.

_"Sheesh. What's her problem?"_ thought Ritsu, as she scratched her head.

"So, what brings you here?" inquired Mugi. She sensed that Himeko was getting a tad bit impatient.

_"Finally,"_ thought Himeko. She was beginning to think they would never stop eating.

"Oh, there were some posters, and... Well, let's just say, they were very persuasive. So, can I join?"

"J-join?" Azusa's eyes grew as big as dinner plates.

"Posters? Persuasive? Lemme see!" Ritsu seems to have left her mind in the gutter today.

"O-okay. Here."

The poster simply stated that members would get free cake and tea everyday. Persuasive indeed.

"What instrument do you play, Hime-chan?" asked Yui in all seriousness. She was probably worried that someone would be better than her again.

"The drums. " Yui sighed in relief. Their president, however, bristled visibly.

"But we already have a drummer! How will we fit in another one? Are you going to make us share the drum set?" Ritsu declared adamantly. No way in hell would she be sharing her drum set.

"We don't need to share. I have my own." Himeko frowned.

The air started getting tense as the two drummers glared at each other. Azusa hoped that Mio knew what she was doing.

"Relax, Ritsu. I just brought her here to help us with practice. She could probably teach you a thing or two."

"I can play just fine!" The feisty brunette picked up her drumsticks and stomped over to the drum set.

_"I'll show them."_

A subtle rhythm began filling the room as Ritsu started playing. Her amber eyes were closed as she focused on a beat that no one else heard. Everyone was slightly impressed. Everyone except Himeko, that is. She calmly walked over to the drummer and yanked the sticks out of her hands.

"Hey!"

"Drums weren't meant to be played alone. Why don't you try it again with some accompaniment? Then we'll see if you can really play."

She looked around to see whom she could use as a test subject. Yui waved her hand wildly in the air, but Himeko pretended she couldn't see it. Her eyes fell upon the gray-eyed bassist.

"Akiyama-san, "

"H-huh? Why me?"

"What? 'fraid that you can't keep up?" Mio saw the amusement on Ritsu's face.

"One more and I'll hit you with this guitar." Ritsu immediately shut up.

Thick bass notes rumbled, and soft beats followed soon after. However, the drummer was not contented with the pace and decided to speed things along. Mio refused to switch tempo, and soon the song pretty much fell apart.

"Wow. That was awful. It sounded like the both of you were playing two completely different songs." Himeko knew they needed some practice, but she never thought it would be this bad.

"Well, it wasn't my fault. Mio here refused to play faster."

"Play faster? Why should I? You're supposed to follow me!" The bassist proceeded to beat Ritsu up.

Himeko looked to see if anyone would stop them. Nobody seemed to care.

"Don't worry. They're always like this," smiled Mugi knowingly.

"If you say so..."

* * *

A/N: Just wanted to try using Himeko. Apparently she is a real character from the series, although I have yet to see her.


	5. Protractors and Icing

"The formula for determining the midpoint of a segment in the plane, is..."

And with one sentence, half of the students in the 2-1 Geometry class fell asleep.

Nakano Azusa valiantly tried to listen, but her attention span was getting shorter by the second. Mutilated diagrams of line segments filled the board as the professor continued to put everybody to sleep. Every five minutes, someone yawned, loudly.

_"I can't take this anymore!" _The bored guitarist glanced at the clock, only to be severely disappointed. It turns out, a mere fifteen minutes has passed since the start of class. She glared at the clock and sighed.

_"I wonder how Jun's doing..."_

Despite being seated in front, Jun managed to fall asleep without getting caught. There was a small puddle of drool on her notebook, which oddly had a cat sticker on the cover.

_"Wait... That's my notebook!" _Jun had better start borrowing notes from someone else, because Azusa sure as hell won't be lending her anything for a while. She looked around to see if her other friend fared any better.

Unsurprisingly, Ui was still wide awake. Judging by the amount of scribbles on her notebook, she probably took good notes, and even seemed to be enjoying the class. Azusa checked to see if the teacher was looking, and quickly passed Ui a note.

"If only Yui could be more like you..."

A worried frown inched across Ui's face as she wrote her reply.

"Did nee-san forget something again?"

"No, that's not it."

Somehow, Ui's reaction made her smile. It was easy to see why she constantly worries about her sister. Living with her was like living with a child, albeit a very noisy child who loves to eat, refuses to get out of bed, and frequently forgets important things. Sometimes, she forgets that Yui is actually her sempai.

"Then what is it? She refused to practice again, didn't she?"

Azusa's thoughts jumped to what happened yesterday. A new member whom she knows nothing about just joined the group, and she happens to sit next to Yui. Now would be a good chance to find out more about her.

"You know that girl that sits beside Yui?"

"Tachibana-sempai?" The abrupt change in topic puzzled Ui.

"What do you think of her?" The raven haired guitarist impatiently bit her pencil. Ui's opinion of the newcomer might give her some valuable information.

"I've never had the chance to talk to her personally, but she seems to be a really nice person." Then again, to Ui, everybody is nice.

"Let me guess, she lets Yui copy her homework." Surprise, surprise.

"She's nice in other ways too, you know." A slight blush covered Ui's cheeks as she struggled to defend her sister.

"Like what?"

"I think you should ask nee-chan instead." The cryptic reply only served to aggravate Azusa's curiosity. She stood up quietly to walk over to Ui's seat.

Meanwhile, the professor has finally realized that half of his class had fallen asleep. The remaining few who were awake seemed to be half-dead. Their apathy irritated him. Just as he was about to walk out, an eager student suddenly made a stand in the sea of indifference. It brought tears to his eyes to see that there was someone who still cared. The professor's voice was choked with emotion as he called out the only student who volunteered to answer his question.

"Nakano-san, will you please tell me the formula for determining the measurement of this angle?"

"Er... Uh..." Azusa mentally berated herself for standing up. She glanced around to see if anyone would help her. Even Ui was stumped. Sighing in defeat, Azusa was about to sit down silently, just as a random memory surfaced in her head.

* * *

Geometry was always a challenge to Azusa. There were too many formulas to master, and most of them made little or no sense.

Above all, she hated senseless things.

She threw her notebook to the floor in frustration, but hastily picked it up. Her sudden outburst of anger embarrassed her, because she didn't wan't anyone to see her throwing fits over a simple equation. It was lucky that the music room was empty at the time.

Or so she thought.

The doors to the music room whooshed open, as Yui rushed in to hug her angry friend. Unfortunately, Gitah's weight turned the hug into a tackle, and both of them ended up on the floor.

"O-ow... Yui-sempai!"

"You look so cute when you're angry!" Yui grinned widely. Then her attention suddenly shifted towards the discarded notebook.

"What's that?"

"N-nothing. Just my notebook." The kouhai quickly put it back in her bag.

"Why did you throw it? Did you get a paper cut?" Azusa found her hands immediately covered in cat-shaped bandages.

"What? Of course not!" Honestly, Yui can be such an airhead at times. A caring airhead, but an airhead nonetheless.

"Oh. Then why'd you throw it?" Big, brown eyes stared with unrestrained curiosity at the notebook.

"The lesson... It's hard..." It took a great deal out of Azusa's pride to tell Yui that she didn't understand something.

"Fear not, little Azunyan! For I, Yui Hirasawa, shall help you defeat this notebook!" Insert flashing eyes and cheeky grin.

"You. Help. Me...?" "_That sounds wrong."_

Yui yanked the notebook away and stared at the pages. Azusa watched quietly, and decided to wait for Mio's arrival. After all, she somehow managed to make Ritsu pass calculus. Learning geometry from Mio should be a breeze. Now, if only she could get her notebook back.

"Ready for your lesson?" Yui put the notebook in front of Azusa.

"Lesson? What lesson?"

"The one I'm about to teach you!" Yui gave her kouhai an odd look.

"Huh?" The raven-haired girl stared back blankly.

"Geez. No wonder you can't understand geometry. You don't listen very well, do you?" If anybody else said that, it would have been an insult. But since it came from Yui, Azusa quietly swallowed her pride and nodded in defeat.

"So, how do we start?"

"Hmm. Well, basically, your lesson is all about angles, so let's focus on that."

"O-okay." Yui was actually making sense for once. The serious look on her face was making Azusa nervous.

"Think of them as cakes." Scratch that.

"Cakes?" Azusa waited to see if Yui was joking.

"Cakes." She wasn't.

"Right." "_At least she tried to help..."_

"Well, a 360° angle is like one big cake. Then a 270° angle is three-quarters of that cake, while a 180° angle is one half of the cake. Get it? Now what's the 90° angle?"

It took a moment for Azusa to admit that the metaphor actually made some sense. She decided to give her friend some credit.

"One-fourth?"

"Right!"

"So how do I find the measurements?"

"By eating the cake!"

"Eating the cake. Uh-huh." Credibility has its limits.

"See here. So it's one big cake, right? When you want to find the measurement, you just take a slice out of it!" Fortunately a cake was lying around. Professor Yui used it to simulate the process of angle measurement. She also ate it.

"Oh, I see! So I subtract it!"

Somehow, Yui's lack of sense actually made everything else easier to understand.

"Huh? What's subtract?" mumbled the ditzy guitarist while licking the icing off her cheeks.

* * *

"Just cut the cake and measure the gap."

"What?" The professor found the solution highly confusing. After a brief silence, Azusa realized that she had to translate Yui-speak to something more normal.

"The complement of the angle, if subtracted from the supplement, should give us the answer, provided that they are both vertical."

"Nicely done, Nakano! It sems that you listened well to today's lecture! You deserve extra credit for tomorrow's quiz." The students raised an uproar when they found out they had a quiz tomorrow. In the background, the clock's irritating tick reminded everyone that there was still half an hour to go.

_"Note to self: Give Yui some cake. Strawberry cake."_

And with that thought, Azusa fell asleep.

* * *

A/N: No Mitsu to be seen here. Haha. :P


End file.
